"Fine police procedural"

Three teens are killed in various locations around London, England. Nobody realizes that the murders are connected until a fourth homicide occurs; the latest victim being a young white teens as opposed to the black or mixed races of the first three homicides that the polices generally ignore. To prevent the press from spewing venom at Scotland Yard, Assistant Commissioner Hillier promotes black Officer Nkate to Detective Sergeant so that nobody could accuse the Yard of racism.

Acting superintendent Thomas Lynley is ordered by Hillier to cooperate with a profiler and a reporter to show the public they are doing everything in their power to catch the killer. As the investigation moves into high gear, two more teens die with each one connected to Colossus, a youth outreach program. All the murders have the same modus operandi including the cutting open the victim's chest, putting a mark on their foreheads and cutting out their navels. Lynley, Police Constable Barbara Havers and the rest of the task force follow one false lead after another. Just when it looks like they are about to break the case wide open, one of the officers is taken by the killer who intends to make him his next victim.

Life changing events take Elizabeth George's characters in new directions which keep this long running police procedural series fresh and very entertaining. While the police pursue the killer, they stumble across a child pornography ring and a sixth killing that has nothing to do with the Colossus murders. Ms. George can always be counted on to give her audience an absorbing and juicy reading experience.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 12, 2005

Summary

Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley takes on the case of his career. When it comes to spellbinding suspense and page-turning excitement, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George always delivers. As the Wall Street Journal raves, "Ms. George can do it all, with style to spare." In With No One as Witness, Elizabeth George has crafted an intricate, meticulously researched, and absorbing story sure to enthrall her readers. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley is back, along with his longtime partner, the fiery Barbara Havers, and newly promoted Detective Sergeant Winston Nkata. They are on the hunt for a sinister killer. When an adolescent boy's nude body is found mutilated and artfully arranged on the top of a tomb, it takes no large leap for the police to recognize this as the work of a serial killer. This is the fourth victim in three months but the first to be white. Hoping to avoid charges of institutionalized racism in its failure to pursue the earlier crimes to their conclusion, New Scotland Yard hands the case over to Lynley and his colleagues. The killer is a psychopath who does not intend to be stopped. Worse, a devastating tragedy within the police ranks causes them to fumble in their pursuit of him.